habit, forming some dangerous acquaintance, and shall I not warn him? Shall I see him in difficulty, perplexed and harassed, and not seek to help him? Under such circumstances silence would be a crime, and lesser considerations must give way to what are vital and imperative. But just in proportion to the stake at issue, and the magnitude of the occasion, is the necessity for Christian caution and the guidance of Christian principles, that we may not speak out of personal heat, or with an inconsiderate haste, fatal to our own influence, and to the very object we have at heart. Not on these occasions alone, although on these most specially, but on all occasions when we give advice, let us endeavour to do so wisely.

Let us do it with humility; and this for a reason which should direct all our action and manners, The giving of advice, especially where that advice involves rebuke and condemnation, implies more or less the attitude of a superior towards an inferior. To tell persons of their faults is always a difficult and delicate thing, and apt to stir up the untamed pride of the human heart into opposition. Yet once awaken personal feeling, arm a man's self-respect against you, set pride into antagonism, awaken anger, and all possible good is lost. We should be so conscious of this tendency in ourselves, as to watch against it most carefully in others. Even where the station of a superior, and a consequent right to speak does really exist in the highest degree, it is yet a Christian duty to

allay the irritation of personal offence. Is not this the meaning of the inspired words, "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath” (Eph. vi. 4). How much more necessary is it in the ordinary relations of man with man. The very giving of advice implies some kind of superiority; that you have what your friend has not, or see what he does not see, or understand what he does not understand. It is the act of a superior, so far as that act is concerned, towards an inferior. There is urgent need, therefore, never to forget this, but so to speak as not to wound pride, or touch the susceptibility of feeling.

For this purpose advice should ever be spoken with humility; not with the consciousness of one standing on a higher level, but with the keen and lively sympathy one sinner should ever bear towards another. We should ever speak as those who are able to sympathise with feelings and difficulties not experienced by ourselves. In ordinary and worldly matters we should try to throw ourselves into our friend's position, and to see with his eyes. Unless we can place ourselves into contact, so to speak, with him, we shall scarcely know how to advise, and certainly not be able to advise with effect. Is it a matter of religion? Let it be as one poor dying man may speak to another poor dying man. Is it the anxious desire to awaken some careless sinner to care about his soul? Do it out of the fulness of heart of one who cares for his own soul. Let there be no appearance of stooping

down, as if you were a holy being of superior nature, instead of being just as lost, just as helpless in yourself, and owing every single thing you have to the free and sovereign grace of God through the work of his Son. Let this be the thought in your heart, and the truth upon your lips: "I am a poor sinner, and know what sin is, and, thank God, know what the Saviour is; and because I am saved myself all of grace, I desire to lead others to the same Saviour." Just as a man cured of some sore and dangerous disease will love to tell others afflicted as he was of the physician who has cured him, and the medicine by which he has been healed, so one redeemed sinner must tell other sinners of the redeeming blood of Christ. Just as a sick man still suffering could feel no possible offence at being told of the remedy by which another sick man has been made well, so many a man might be led to think of a Saviour, if the words addressed to him were those of a common sympathy and a common hope. It is not enough that the great grace of humility should be in the heart unless it is also expressed by the lips.

Again, the language of advice should be gentle. It should not catch a tone of severity, as if it were ours to judge. It should not be stern, hard, and harsh, but framed after the example of our loving Saviour, who did not break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax. We should speak the truth and the whole truth, but we should speak it in love. We cannot exclude all condem

nation and rebuke from our lips. Little good would be done to the patient by taking away the bitterness of the medicine. But we should speak it in all tenderness, declaring our Master's message in our Master's spirit, and according to our Master's example.

Again, advice should be given patiently; a wise counsellor should not be hasty to judge, but should wait to become acquainted with the whole circumstances of the case. How shall a physician treat his patient rightly unless he first ascertains the nature and intensity of the disease? There is a great temptation to persons of lively dispositions and active intellects to outrun the full knowledge of the facts, and jump to a conclusion on partial grounds. It is remarkable how this tendency is rebuked by the inspired Word of God: "He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him" (Prov. xviii. 13).

Lastly, advice should be given privately. I speak, of course, of the ordinary intercourse of men, and not of the occasions where one man may be called to speak to many men at once. But I say privately, in order that the implied superiority of the advice-giver over the advice-receiver may not hurt a man's self-respect, nor injure his position by being exercised in the presence of another. It is remarkable that our Master himself, in his instructions to those who are injured, laid stress on this privacy: "Tell him his fault between thee and him alone” (Matt. xviii. 15). All must be

conscious that we receive advice more willingly when thus quietly given between us and our friend, than when paraded before others with an ostentatious show, equally unbecoming to the speaker and injurious to the hearer. How easily and naturally does the one ever-recurring and golden rule solve a thousand of these questions, and by a kind of instinct teach us how to act: "Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you."

It cannot be expected that attention to these cautions should enable us invariably to avoid giving offence, or causing pain and misapprehension. But it will take away just cause for offence, and this is all we can hope for. There are persons so jealous and sensitive; persons who have pampered their own pride into such a morbid activity, that, like an inflamed wound, it will not bear even to be touched. The impossibility of always maintaining truth and honesty with such characters, without giving offence, is indicated by the remarkable words of the apostle: "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men" (Rom. xii. 18). If our Master himself was misunderstood and unkindly judged, what wonder if his people should be so too? Yet it is our duty to avoid it as far as possible. If we fail, we have at all events the satisfaction of doing right, the ease of our own conscience, and, above all, the unfailing approbation of our Master.

II. What shall be said as to receiving advice?